New East Providence shop launches customizable doughnuts

Sunday

At Proud Mary's, you can pick the glazes and toppings for your very own doughnut creations.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Good news for dough devotees: The gourmet doughnut craze is showing no signs of slowing down. And now a new Rhode Island maker, called Proud Mary’s, has entered the deep fryer.

The recently opened shop in Riverside sets itself apart with a new spin: customizable, made-to-order fritters.

“It’s a very interactive process,” said owner Ruarri Miller, who likens the concept to a frozen yogurt bar, where you can create your own cups of swirly soft-serve with all manner of add-ons.

With doughnuts, given the nature of the treat — hot, made on demand — pastry cooks take care of the actual assembly. But what it tastes like is entirely up to the guest.

For the base, Proud Mary’s currently makes one type of doughnut, a medium-sized old-fashioned. From there, the options expand exponentially. The build-your-own setup allows guests to select from nine different glazes, including chocolate, maple, and key lime. Then, it’s topping time. Would you like sprinkles, skittles, bacon, or walnuts, or one of more than a dozen other choices?

“We can make more than 130 different combinations,” Miller said. “But any more than two toppings, we don’t recommend, because it gets messy.”

The menu also includes suggested flavor pairings, such as the Piña Colada, with pineapple glaze and coconut flakes, and the Ocean Breeze, a honey-glazed confection flecked with sea salt.

Also available are indulgences such as an egg and cheese doughnut with bacon, and the ice cream doughnut, with flavors from the Ice Cream Barn, in Swansea.

With help from a doughnut-making machine, the production process only takes about 5 minutes total, including cooling time.

“We’re basically a little doughnut factory,” Miller said. “We use the same equipment as Krispy Kreme, only theirs is sized up.”

Miller, who also owns the Riverside-based contracting and real estate firm The Apiary, doesn’t come from a typical food entrepreneur background. But he’s had help figuring out the culinary aspects from employees, including project manager Allison Bebee, a former packaging engineer at Ocean Spray.

“You’d be surprised, it’s fairly easy to learn how to make doughnuts,” Bebee says.

With the project, Miller, a Riverside resident, is emphasizing the importance of investing in his own community, including creating jobs, taxable revenue, and a fun place for residents to gather and socialize. Located right on the East Bay Bike Path, the shop is also designed to be a welcoming spot for visitors passing through the community for the first time, he said.

“I’m a builder, and there’s a lot of building opportunity here to make things that are meaningful,” he said. “It’s so much more interesting than when we’re remodeling someone’s kitchen or bathroom.”

Proud Mary’s was funded in part through the City of East Providence's low-interest commercial loan program.

“This program is so important because a lot of residents are currently spending their money elsewhere, because the businesses aren’t necessarily here … and there’s no reason they should have to spend their money in Seekonk,” Miller said.

He added that he hopes Proud Mary’s is just one of many new food businesses in Riverside. Already, there is the two-year-old coffee shop and roaster Borealis Coffee Company. And Miller has plans in the works for a burrito restaurant next door to Proud Mary’s, but estimates that he’s more than a year away from opening day.

Like many new food businesses these days, Proud Mary’s boasts a vibrant, retro-styled interior and a fun logo — a spunky-looking older woman wearing a nose ring. Come to find out, Miller’s mother is named Mary, and the shop's name pays tribute to her and other moms.

“I grew up in a somewhat non-traditional household,” Miller says. “My mom is a builder ... before she was a builder though, she was a seamstress, and she would make really high-end clothing. She’s a real renaissance woman. So I have deep appreciation for people who work with their hands and just get things done. So Proud Mary is an homage to working-class moms who just get it done,” he said.